See Jack Kirby's art for the fake Argo that inspired the hit film

Before Argo was the fake movie that saved six lives, it was a real script that had real art from the king of comics, Jack Kirby.

Here's a twisty tale for you. The Academy Award-nominated film Argo is based on a true story about how CIA operative Tony Mendez pretended he was making a sci-fi movie in Iran (called Argo) in order to save six Americans who were hiding. What most people don't know, however, is that before there was the ficitonal Argo, there was an actual Argo, albeit under a different name. Not only that, it had concept art from the legendary comic artist Jack Kirby.

Lord of Light was an adaptation of a novel of the same name. A would-be producer with a dream, Barry Geller, gathered together enough money to begin production on the film. He'd hired makeup artist John Chambers to create alien masks and had Jack Kirby drawing up concept art when things went belly up in Aurora, Colo. According to journalist Joshua Bearman, Geller wanted to "film Lord of Light there, and then use the sets to create a theme park, called Science Fiction Land."

Unsurprisingly, the film stalled and was never created, and the art that Kirby had crafted lay dormant. Thankfully, however, that art has turned up, and now, after decades, we can finally see what the King had in mind. Check out the gallery and imagine with us what would have happened if Argo had been more than just a CIA scheme.